Swordsmyth
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For several years, they were Europe’s lifesaving workhorses — a fleet of humanitarian boats that patrolled the Mediterranean, rescuing migrants in distress and transporting them to the southern shores of this continent. But now that fleet is shrinking, along with the chances of migrants making it to their intended destination. When migrants need rescue — and they typically do, as the inflatable dinghies they set out in can’t make it far — they are more likely to encounter a Libyan patrol boat that will take them back in the direction they were trying to escape from.
The humanitarian groups and their passengers have been under especially intense pressure this week, as European countries clashed over the obligation to take in migrants, with Italy closing its ports to a vessel from a nongovernmental organization, France chastising Italy, German leaders splitting over the issue and Spain ultimately opening its doors. But the NGOs say their work has been compromised for some time now, as southern Europe has grown increasingly resistant to migrants and Libya has taken on a more active role in patrolling the sea.
Earlier in this migrant crisis, there were often a half-dozen vessels from NGOs working in the Mediterranean. Last week, there was one.
“We couldn’t do our jobs anymore,” said Chris Catrambone, co-founder of the Malta-based Migrant Offshore Aid Station, which has transferred its boat to Southeast Asia to help the Rohingya ethnic minority fleeing Myanmar. “We were rendered ineffective by politics.”
The NGOs say the environment in the Mediterranean began to change last year when Italy, then led by a center-left government and with the backing of the European Union, determined to revive the Libyan coast guard and hand over a large portion of sea rescues.
The Libyan unit had fallen into disrepair after the death in 2011 of dictator Moammar Gaddafi. But last year, Marco Minniti, Italy’s interior minister at the time, traveled frequently to Tripoli. He built goodwill by brokering a peace deal with warring Libyan tribal leaders. He met with Libyan mayors and pushed them to patrol their frontiers. In an interview, Minniti said Italy also delivered seven refurbished patrol vessels and helped to train Libyan coast guard members.
The results have been dramatic. About 22,000 people this year, according to the International Organization for Migration, have attempted to leave Libyan shores for Italy — a 70 percent reduction from the same period last year. But the number of arrivals in Italy is down even more steeply. That’s because the fortified Libyan coast guard has expanded the zone of the Mediterranean it patrols and is intercepting about 1 in every 3 migrants, compared with 1 in 8 last year. The death rate in the central Mediterranean has remained steady.
Among the nine most prominent organizations performing rescue work in the Mediterranean, three have stopped or suspended their operations over the past year, citing in part concerns about encounters with Libya’s armed coast guard. Another has cut back on its missions. Two groups have been slowed or interrupted amid legal fights in Italy.
The NGOs that have dropped out include Save the Children and Doctors Without Borders, which still sends some of its staff on missions with another charity, SOS Mediterranee.
Barcelona-based Proactiva Open Arms had one of its vessels seized in Sicily for several months, accused by a prosecutor of enabling illegal migration after it failed to hand over migrants to Libya during a contested rescue. A German NGO, Jugend Rettet, had its boat impounded last August in Sicily, with prosecutors saying the group had cooperated with smugglers — an accusation Jugend Rettet describes as false and politically motivated.
More at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...af78d4c544c_story.html?utm_term=.7bf37d36a12a
Notice that they view their job as getting the invaders to Europe and that Libya turning them back is treated as a bad thing.
The humanitarian groups and their passengers have been under especially intense pressure this week, as European countries clashed over the obligation to take in migrants, with Italy closing its ports to a vessel from a nongovernmental organization, France chastising Italy, German leaders splitting over the issue and Spain ultimately opening its doors. But the NGOs say their work has been compromised for some time now, as southern Europe has grown increasingly resistant to migrants and Libya has taken on a more active role in patrolling the sea.
Earlier in this migrant crisis, there were often a half-dozen vessels from NGOs working in the Mediterranean. Last week, there was one.
“We couldn’t do our jobs anymore,” said Chris Catrambone, co-founder of the Malta-based Migrant Offshore Aid Station, which has transferred its boat to Southeast Asia to help the Rohingya ethnic minority fleeing Myanmar. “We were rendered ineffective by politics.”
The NGOs say the environment in the Mediterranean began to change last year when Italy, then led by a center-left government and with the backing of the European Union, determined to revive the Libyan coast guard and hand over a large portion of sea rescues.
The Libyan unit had fallen into disrepair after the death in 2011 of dictator Moammar Gaddafi. But last year, Marco Minniti, Italy’s interior minister at the time, traveled frequently to Tripoli. He built goodwill by brokering a peace deal with warring Libyan tribal leaders. He met with Libyan mayors and pushed them to patrol their frontiers. In an interview, Minniti said Italy also delivered seven refurbished patrol vessels and helped to train Libyan coast guard members.
The results have been dramatic. About 22,000 people this year, according to the International Organization for Migration, have attempted to leave Libyan shores for Italy — a 70 percent reduction from the same period last year. But the number of arrivals in Italy is down even more steeply. That’s because the fortified Libyan coast guard has expanded the zone of the Mediterranean it patrols and is intercepting about 1 in every 3 migrants, compared with 1 in 8 last year. The death rate in the central Mediterranean has remained steady.
Among the nine most prominent organizations performing rescue work in the Mediterranean, three have stopped or suspended their operations over the past year, citing in part concerns about encounters with Libya’s armed coast guard. Another has cut back on its missions. Two groups have been slowed or interrupted amid legal fights in Italy.
The NGOs that have dropped out include Save the Children and Doctors Without Borders, which still sends some of its staff on missions with another charity, SOS Mediterranee.
Barcelona-based Proactiva Open Arms had one of its vessels seized in Sicily for several months, accused by a prosecutor of enabling illegal migration after it failed to hand over migrants to Libya during a contested rescue. A German NGO, Jugend Rettet, had its boat impounded last August in Sicily, with prosecutors saying the group had cooperated with smugglers — an accusation Jugend Rettet describes as false and politically motivated.
More at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...af78d4c544c_story.html?utm_term=.7bf37d36a12a
Notice that they view their job as getting the invaders to Europe and that Libya turning them back is treated as a bad thing.
